Yarn Along..

September starts my favorite time of the year.

I am autumns child.

It kicks off with the annual 'Harvest Festival'

and the (be still my heart) antique sale at the barn.

Always full of treasures, but for me it is really about just 

getting to "be" in that gorgeous barn once a year.

Spent some time in the village poking around shops.

Then home to start labeling yarns for vending at Penn's Colony.

..naturally dyed..

::love::

Just checked this out at the library last night and can't wait to 

read it:

Nature's Colors: Dyes from Plants by Ida Grae

Knitting away on the Antarctis which is perfect for

days filled with blue skies and falling leaves.

~

Joining Ginny

Bleu..

Last spring I purchased a small packet of 

Japanese indigo seeds from a shop on Etsy.

Kind of a 

lets-plant-them-and-see-what-happens thing.

They grew.

Last weekend I got to thinking I should harvest some 

and gave dyeing a go..

As I mashed them into the pot my fingers turned blue.

Okay.. good sign.

The next day the water was blue and there was a film

on the surface characteristic to indigo.

Another good sign.

Whipped air into it,

added more ingredients,

let it sit,

heated it..

..so lost in the excitement I never checked the pH..

and chucked some yarn in the vat!

BLUE!!

Holy. Cow.

.

.

b l u e.

From the b.a.c.k.y.a.r.d.

~

Top to bottom:

100% small farm Alpaca 

Non-superwash Alpaca and wool

Superwash merino wool dyed in Queen Anne's Lace then overdyed with indigo

THIS just came in the mail:

Sequence Knitting; Simple Methods for Creating Complex Fabrics

by Cecelia Campochiaro

Total splurge, BUT it is a gorgeous book.

Be sure to listen to her interview on Woolful.com.

Can't wait to dive in..

~

Joining Ginny

These days..

Throw the doors open..

grab the favorite threadbare rug...

..pots stewing..

with natures colors.

Daffodil dud colored yarn over-dyed with indigo..

Small private class full of laughter, love, fellowship, and 

explosion of natural dyes.

Weaving while colors cook.

My favorites..

~

Color study

"I love to study the many things that grow below the corn stalks and bring them back to the studio to study the color. 

If one could only catch that true color of nature - the very thought of it drives me mad."

~Andrew Wyeth~

I've been wanting to try natural dyeing with daffodils since last spring.

So this year, I gathered...dyed some super soft

merino/silk (non-SW) and..

well..

off white.

Re-gathered, gave the yarn a second trip through

the dye bath and ended up with the above.

A creamy yellow beige.

Not what I was expecting, but then that's 

what I love about natural dyeing.  You never

really know what will come from the dye pot.

~